Round 19: Geelong v Sydney Swans

[aardvark]

McVeigh wouldn't know a contested possession if it bit him. He's not a true Bloods captain. Kirky would be ashamed.

[giant]

I think the people on this forum whinge way too much about the umpiring.

Tonight I grant you carte blanche: that was staggeringly one sided. The "late tackle" against McVeigh? The "ruck block" against Tippett? Just two of so many examples of incredibly biased umpiring. When I turned it over to the Wallabies, the free kick count, with about 7 mins to go, was 17-7 in Geelong's favour. 7 free kicks in almost 3 qrs of footy. Unfreaknbeleivable.

[MattW]

McVeigh wouldn't know a contested possession if it bit him. He's not a true Bloods captain. Kirky would be ashamed.

Agree with the first two sentences. I can't see how he plays another year. Only wins possessions when we're on top - knows it.

[aardvark]

Losing Mummy was a huge mistake.

[Ludwig]

We haven't been close to good enough even with a full squad. Today we got smashed in the midfield, the one area where we supposedly have both quality and depth. It's bewildering why we seem to constantly play so poor after halftime. Perhaps we put so much effort into scoring in the first half that we are shot after half a game.

We've got problems all over the ground. No need to repeat the details yet another time.

The season is over as far as I'm concerned. It doesn't mean we won't play better once Buddy and Rohan are back, but it's far more realistic to look to the future now. Let's give some of the younger guys senior game time. Put Pyke and Derickx on the LTIL and give Perris and Newman a go. They both seem to have good skills and decision making. Time to give Hewett a go as well.

I watched the Bulldogs game today. They are so far ahead of us in skill and ball movement. And they are doing it with guys like Joel Hamling and Fletcher Roberts holding down key defender positions. No Bob Murphy, no problems.

I was hoping that we would have taken Jake Kolodjashnij in the draft 2 years ago, but instead went for Nankervis. Nanka may well turn out okay, but we will have to wait years for that to happen. Kolo is ready to hold down a key defender position now. Well, we put our faith in our next pick in Aliir, so let's see how he stacks up.

If Naismith if fit enough to play 3 quarters, I'd start him next game. He's our only hope for decent ruckman next year.

[annew]

I find it deflating and disappointing that swans did not cheat, did not take drugs, did not cheat salary cap yet are not allowed to improve their list by banning them from trading last year and restricting them this year. Swans lose Malceski for nothing and will probably lose Jetta for next to nothing and it has nothing to do with paying too much to Buddy and Tippett but rather a vindictive unethical move from the AFL. It makes me want to give up on the whole AFL because it is ok for the AFL to cheat and get away with it. How defeating must it be for the whole team knowing they need to tweak a little to improve but are restricted from doing so?

[Ludwig]

Some of the umpiring really hurt us at critical times. There were a number of non calls when clearly one of our players going for the ball was being held, then Geelong won possession and went in for a score. I can see how some of the calls could have been very deflating.

[crackedactor]

I think the people on this forum whinge way too much about the umpiring.

Tonight I grant you carte blanche: that was staggeringly one sided. The "late tackle" against McVeigh? The "ruck block" against Tippett? Just two of so many examples of incredibly biased umpiring. When I turned it over to the Wallabies, the free kick count, with about 7 mins to go, was 17-7 in Geelong's favour. 7 free kicks in almost 3 qrs of footy. Unfreaknbeleivable.

Wish I watched the wallabies instead. Don't forget the trip of Kieran jack in the centre of the ground and 2 meters over the mark and no 50 meters penalty. Hearing on good authority that the story on umpiring conversations overheard by Grant Thomas, was 100% true, I still believe Fitzpatrick had a word in the umpires ear. But even with fair umpiring we would have lost. WHY CANNOT WE PLAY A GOOD SECOND HALF OF A GAME???? its frustrating. Our first half was not too bad.

[Hotpotato]

I said to my cat , the umpiring has to go our way in the last quarter , just to make them look half credible ... But it didn't .
The Cats , for whatever reason , have been the umpires pets for a very long time .
I know some will respond that it's because of their clean ball handling .
Kennedy and Selwood actually seemed to have a chuckle about it together .

Anyway , I don't get The Swans structure to try and win games of footy , but the coaches are at it full time so they must have a plan in there .

Buddy wins us .a lot of games .
Get well soon .

[annew]

Wish I watched the wallabies instead. Don't forget the trip of Kieran jack in the centre of the ground and 2 meters over the mark and no 50 meters penalty. Hearing on good authority that the story on umpiring conversations overheard by Grant Thomas, was 100% true, I still believe Fitzpatrick had a word in the umpires ear. But even with fair umpiring we would have lost. WHY CANNOT WE PLAY A GOOD SECOND HALF OF A GAME???? its frustrating. Our first half was not too bad.

What umpiring conversations was Grant Thomas talking about. By the way I agree with you.

[MattW]

I don't at all believe the umpiring was corrupt - it just favoured a home team on top.

[The Big Cat]

Hearing on good authority that the story on umpiring conversations overheard by Grant Thomas, was 100% true, I still believe Fitzpatrick had a word in the umpires ear.

What conversation?

[rojo]

I don't think Goodesy was anywhere near the most ineffective player in our team tonight. Most of the night he was the only tall forward with little or no support when the ball hit the ground. The other talls, Tippet, Reid and Nankervis didn't do much to trouble the scoreboard or the Geelong backline either. In fact Goodesy along with Jets were the only ones to provide a bit of spark from time to time.

[crackedactor]

What umpiring conversations was Grant Thomas talking about. By the way I agree with you.

In 2005 St Kilda coach criticised the AFL during the week and on the return flight from a fremantle game the officiating umpire reported to have said "Umpire Matthew Head is accused of saying, "Now I know what it feels like to have a victory" as he boarded the "red- eye" flight from Perth to Melbourne at 1.30am on Saturday.

[wolftone57]

Take out our top 2 tall forwards (Tippett mostly in the ruck) and the task was hard enough, the midfield didn't help the cause by going missing in the second half. McVeigh, Parker and Hannebery all 3 had superb games against Adelaide but were poor tonight. Getting well beaten in contested possessions by a side that had lost the contested possession count in 12 of its 16 games prior to today was a indictment on our midfield.

Add to this the poor decision making and kicking from usually composed players like Lloyd and Smith and the whole second half felt like it was spent chasing the Cats' shadows. No wonder some of the chasing near the end of the game was so poor, we exhausted ourselves out in the 3rd quarter.

I think it's clear that our depth is lacking and to be a premiership threat we need everyone fit and on the field. Right now having Franklin, Pyke, Rohan and McGlynn sitting on the sidelines signficantly weakens our forward line and the youngsters being asked to fill in the breach (Heeney aside) are struggling to do so. Goodes competes well up forward, even when outnumbered but his decision making and disposal going forward is poor

You didn't mention Kizza & Macca not standing up once again. Very poor from our captains. I don't think Kizza has put more than 1 game in every two together this season. Rhyce is finished, he has played about a third of the games. Do you realise according to that really great stats firm, Champion Data, he has only had 6 goals kicked on him this season. I nearly choked. He got 4 in one match and followed up with 3 against so I can't see how he can only have had 6 for the season.

We played out GF last week on all the emotion. We proved how unfit we are this week. to whoever said we were too slow. Yes we were but more because we are too unfit. I saw players chasing guys they would normally have mowed down and giving up because they were blown. Lukie on Kelly. He would normally swamp him but he was all blown out. I watched him just give up and bend over. @@@@ that is really bad. He wasn't the only one, Kizza, Hannas, Lloydy, even Heeney, normally good chasers just gave up too often. To me it is an indication of a fitness problem not a speed problem as Harry, who is quick also had the same problem.

Yes we have problems with depth. What team wouldn't when you can't trade. But buddy & Tip have to also be blamed for some of it too. But when we have injuries in both the Seniors and Reserves it really hurts. The natural replacement development wise for Pykie would have been Naismith but he has been injured. Several other players who were expected to push for selection this year have either not developed or have been injured. We also have several on the Rookie list, including Big Sammy that may be better than a few on the Senior list. Marsh for instance should have been de-listed and retaken as a rookie. That could have made room for Newman on the main list. He is the most likely of the backs to make it other than Melican, who has been injured all year.

Hewett is developing nicely. Davis is a good prospect. Hiscox will develop and is looking good but still makes basic blues yet. Robbo should have played today not BJ. Aliir is developing but still not quite ready, he needs to stop his lapses in concentration. But I will say that we could have used him as a second ruck instead of Nanka today. Xav is developing nicely and I don't think he is too far away.

On the rookie List; I like Foote. He's tough. He also knows how to win the ball and tag a player really hard. He makes them earn their ball. Newman is a real find and the sooner he ends up on the Senior list the better. Young Perris is going to be something. He plays tall for his height and knows instinctively where the ball is. He is also a good deliverer. Melican looked so good in the pre-season. We might get to see him next week as he is now fit to go. McLaren has not developed much at all but it is early days yet. He is a really tall but doesn't have the weight yet to fulfil the role of a tall at open age level. He would have been really good in the under 19 but at open level he is up against men whose body development is years ahead of his.He is painfully thin. He shows talent at times and is very good when thrown into the ruck at times. But I think they are developing him slowly due to his build.

We have a lot of players who are future and raw at this stage but not a lot who are ready. We lost too many players when Bud came. Mummy, Drey, Spang, Lamb etc. Players we were developing. Plus I think we stuffed up by letting Biggs go. Ok he is not getting a game with Bullies but themn again they are playing a bit better than us. He would be better and more consistent than about half of our team at the moment. We have had injuries to key players and that has hurt when we also had injuries in the Twos. Birdie was just coming back and got injured.

I think our fitness gurus need to be shed and we need a better fitness team next year. They have stuffed up big time. Our players are having problems. I would also be looking into the supplements program. Yes we do have one. Some of then cause shortness of breath when you are stressed exercise wise and are only good for weight gain and weight lifting. If we are using any of them we should shed them immediately. It is the worst condition I have ever seen a Swans side. Yes we lack some speed but it is not speed in itself that is beating us it is the ability to get to the contest. We are slow because we are not fit, simple really. When you are less fit than the opposition the longer a game goes the longer it takes to react. Your concentration lapses, you get slack on covering, you don't read the play well. We need to examine our fitness regime.